In recent years, electro-surgery has become a more useful tool for surgeons to operate on patients replacing the surgical metal scalpel with an electro-surgical cutting electrode.
An electro-surgical system usually comprises a generator providing high-frequency alternating current on demand under monitored conditions, the cutting electrode having an extremely high-current density and a flat dispersive electrode having a very large surface area to provide a low-current density. The utility of providing a dispersive electrode has been described in the literature, for example, in J. Dermatol. Surg. Oncol. 1988; 14:926-931.
The dispersive electrode of the alternating current electro-surgical system is placed in intimate and continuous contact with a portion of the body of the patient which is not subject to the surgical procedure. The alternating current circuit is completed through the body of the patient between the dispersive electrode and the cutting electrode. Disconnection of the dispersive electrode either from contacting the patient or from the generator could subject the patient to electrical burns where the alternating current circuit leaves the body of the patient. The electrical burns could be nearly as intense as the electrical incision.
Generally, electro-surgery generators include a safety disconnect circuit to prevent skin burns if the dispersive electrode fails to maintain a proper, dispersing electrical connection between the generator and the body of the patient. One type of electro-surgery generating equipment has a continuity testing safety circuit requiring the use of a unitary plate dispersive electrode. Another type of electro-surgery generating equipment has an impedance safety circuit requiring the use of a split-plate dispersive electrode.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,276 describes a generating system which has a return electrode impedance monitoring safety circuit using a split-plate dispersive electrode.
Hence, with at least two known types of systems of electro-surgical generators, two types of dispersive electrodes, unitary plate electrodes and split-plate electrodes, have been developed in the industry specifically for their respective generating systems. When a hospital or other surgical arena uses both types of electro-surgical generating systems, it is necessary to maintain a supply of each type of dispersive electrode, because heretofore, each type of electrode is specifically adapted for use with a particular type of electro-surgical generating system. Misuse or incorrect selection of the proper type of dispersive electrode with the proper system can occur when multiple types of electrodes must be kept in inventory.
For each electro-surgical generator system, a connector device must be provided for connecting the appropriate dispersive electrode to the generator system. Because of the variety of electrode types, a variety of connector devices have also been developed to establish electrical connection between the generator and the body of the patient. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,263, which involves a unitary dispersive electrode, a connector having a pair of leads is disclosed to engage a pair of engagement holes on the electrode. Another example is that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,842,394 also involving a unitary dispersive electrode, where a spring-biased connector clamps to the surface of the electrode plate.
Lever actuated clamps are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,061,408 and 4,768,969 which show single-plate electrodes being secured by the lever actuated pressure within the connectors.
The problem in the art is that a specific type of dispersive electrode has been developed for each type of electro-surgical generating system requiring the maintenance of separate inventory of electrodes for each system. The connector devices known have provided no facility which would permit one type of electrode to be useful with the type of generating system for which it was developed and also to be electrically adapted to be useful with the other type of generating system.
What is needed in the art is a clamp which can be connected to either electro-surgical generators which require unitary dispersive electrodes or electro-surgical generators which required split-plate dispersive electrodes. By providing the clamp with an electrical contact configuration which electrically adapts one type of electrode into another type of electrode, a single type of dispersive electrode may be used with electro-surgical generating equipment of various types.